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Exclusive: Walgreens may open new downtown Orlando store next year

Published on: December 17, 2015

The buzz regarding Walgreens coming back into downtown Orlando decades after it had an Orange Avenue storefront appears to be coming to fruition.

The Deerfield, Ill.-based convenience store chain is working with landlord Nunziata Holdings LLC on finalizing a lease for ground-level space at 190 S. Orange Ave., the building formerly known as the Valencia College administration building.

Sources had previously told Orlando Business Journal a Walgreens deal was in the works, and Nunziata Holdings’ principals, brothers Joe and Rob Nunziata of FBC Mortgage LLC, on Dec. 18 verified that rumor.

“According to our broker, Brian Grandstaff, we have received a commitment and are working on a signed lease,” Joe Nunziata said in an emailed response. “With construction buildout, we would hope to have them in there in one year or less from the signed lease.”

Nunziata was unable to share more details, but real estate sources said the nation’s largest drug store chain will take the entire first floor, about 6,400 square feet, of the historic building at the northwest corner of Orange Avenue and Church Street.

Walgreens previously had a pharmacy in downtown many years ago, as a photo obtained by OBJ shows a building on Orange Avenue with a “Walgreen Drugs” awning. The year the photo was taken is unknown.